Hapsburgs

Cultural  

1. Austrian-based dynasty that ruled much of central and parts of western Europe from the thirteenth to the twentieth centuries. The family's head long held the title of Holy Roman Emperor (see Holy Roman Empire). By 1914 the Hapsburg-ruled Austro-Hungarian Empire included all or part of territories that later became independent nations, such as Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. The empire collapsed during World War I.

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Nationalism threatened to disrupt the Hapsburg Empire in the nineteenth century; the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo (see also Sarajevo) in 1914 triggered World War I.

Example Sentences

From the defeat of the Spanish Armada to the disastrous Battle of Rocroi, Hapsburgs absorbed loss after loss, while Protestant northern Europe extended itself across the world.

From Slate • Apr. 21, 2023

His mother, he recalled, filled him with stories of the glories of the Austro-Hungarian Empire under the Hapsburgs, an upbringing he credited for his generally conservative outlook.

From New York Times • Jun. 29, 2017

Stile Antico, a highly acclaimed British early music ensemble, will perform a program of Renaissance choral masterworks from the court of the Hapsburgs.

From Washington Post • Feb. 20, 2015

The Austrian Hapsburgs took several steps to become absolute monarchs.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2012

Ah, young sir, the Szekelys—and the Dracula as their heart’s blood, their brains, and their swords—can boast a record that mushroom growths like the Hapsburgs and the Romanoffs can never reach.

From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker